(September 8, 2023) – How big of an impact do your genes play in overall health and response to treatment?
That’s the question East Tennessee State University’s Center of Excellence in Inflammation, Infectious Disease and Immunity (CIIDI) and the University of Tennessee’s Health Science Center (UTHSC) set out to answer with their Biorepository and Integrative Genomics (BIG) Initiative.
The BIG Initiative aims to address some of the most critical health care needs in Tennessee by investigating the impact a person’s genes have on their overall health and response to treatment. Researchers are looking to discover new associations between a person’s genes and diseases by sequencing their genome and linking it to their known disease states.
ETSU Health patients will be asked to participate in research and consent to one extra tube of blood to be drawn along with ordered lab tests.
“The BIG Initiative is yet another example of the cutting-edge health sciences research occurring at East Tennessee State University,” ETSU President Dr. Brian Noland said. “Through this effort, our researchers seek to address the most-pressing health care needs in Tennessee, provide enhanced care for vulnerable populations, eliminate health disparities and engage participating communities through innovative programs.”
CIIDI, part of the Quillen College of Medicine, conducts research by designing and implementing innovative clinical and translational studies geared toward patient care to advance education, research and clinical applications in inflammation, immune and infectious disease.
“At the heart of everything we do, we aim to improve the lives of the people in this region and beyond,” said Dr. Bill Block, dean of the Quillen College of Medicine. “This research is perfectly aligned with that mission, and we are excited to partner with the UT Health Sciences Center on this critically important work.”
Dr. Robert Davis, the statewide BIG director and founding director of the UTHSC Center for Biomedical Informatics, will present a lecture on this research later this month as part of CIIDI’s “Emerging Topics Series.” Davis will discuss the BIG Initiative, as well as other studies currently underway exploring asthma, epilepsy and cardiomyopathy.
Davis’ lecture is open to the public and will be held at Bishop Hall, room G13, on the campus of the James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Mountain Home from 12-1 p.m. A Zoom link is also available, and those interested can register at bit.ly/47Wuj1X.
“Our goal is to continue to expand the BIG Initiative statewide to eventually include 100,000 Tennesseans, and to represent east Tennessee in addition to the Delta region in west Tennessee,” said Davis.
The BIG Initiative falls squarely in line with CIIDI’s numerous other research projects, which include several studies investigating the root causes of ongoing and newly developed long-COVID symptoms.
“CIIDI is well-positioned to coordinate a broad array of scientific projects impacting human health,” said Dr. Jonathan Moorman, co-director of CIIDI. “Other ongoing projects range from studies on sepsis, HIV and hepatitis B, to new approaches and collaborations to understand and treat cancers.”
With five health sciences colleges and more than 40 health sciences programs, ETSU offers a robust combination of academic programs and patient-care facilities that elevate interprofessional experience in health care education.
For more information on the BIG Initiative, visit https://bit.ly/3OngUXq.